Engineering 3 (2017) 577

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Engineering
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / e n g

Editorial

The Development History of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in China

Defa Li
China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China

Animal nutrition and feed science
are the main scientific support for the
modern breeding and feed industries.
Furthermore, many aspects of biotech-
nology, information technology, envi-
ronmental health science, and ecology
are involved in the formation and de-
velopment of these two disciplines.
The development of animal nu-
trition and feed science in China has
passed through three historical stages.
The first stage (1949–1957) occurred
during the early establishment of China. At that time, research
mainly focused on investigating feed resources, developing unused
feed resources, evaluating feed nutritive value, and processing and
storing forage. The second stage (1958–1978) occurred during a
period of planned economy, during which research into animal nu-
trition and feed science came nearly to a standstill for historical rea-
sons. The third stage (1979–present) is occurring during a period of
reform and opening-up. Many sub-disciplines were formed, such as
pig nutrition, poultry nutrition, dairy cow nutrition, beef nutrition,
sheep nutrition, and feed nutritive value evaluation. Many standards
were established and published, such as feed standards for pigs,
chickens, dairy cows, beef cattle, and sheep; feedstuff standards;
and feed hygienic standards. China’s feed ingredient and feed nutri-
tive value forms were also released. Moreover, research into animal
nutrition entered a new stage, in which a large number of studies
were carried out and numerous achievements were made in the
nutritional metabolism of aquatic animals and special animals; the
evaluation of feed biological value; general investigations into amino
acids, minerals, and feed anti-nutritional factors; the development
of nutritional and non-nutritional feed additives; the utilization of
non-protein nitrogen; and the updating of Chinese feedstuff data.
To date, animal nutrition on the microscale has made remarkable
progress in revealing physiological and biochemical reactions and
metabolic rules for nutrients in animals, regulating complementa-
tion and antagonism among all kinds of nutrients, and even chang-
ing the multi-mechanism between animals’ external environment
and their internal microorganism environment. Moreover, research
in modern animal nutrition and feed science no longer stops at
studying animal nutrient requirements; scholars in these disciplines
now pay increasing attention to human food safety and environ-
mental protection as they work toward sustainable animal nutrition
and feed science.
This collection of papers reviews the literature related to the lat-
est advances in ruminant nutrition, pig nutrition, environment con-
trol, and aquatic animals. It also focuses on the hot topics of dietary
fiber and the current use of Chinese herbal medicine in animal diets.
We are very grateful to all the contributors from Canada, Japan, the
United Kingdom, and China for their support for this special issue.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/J.ENG.2017.05.026
2095-8099/© 2017 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier LTD on behalf of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Higher Education Press Limited Company.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).